MAKING THE COMMITMENT:
EXODUS 12:1-13 The Holy One spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 'This month shall be
for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to the
congregation of Israel, saying: In the tenth day of this month they shall take, every person, a
lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. If the household is too little
for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor shall take one according to the number of the
souls; according to every man's eating you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from the sheep or from the
goats. You shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk. And they shall take the blood and
put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses in which they shall eat it.
They shall eat the flesh that night, roast with fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Do not eat it raw, nor cooked in any way with water, but roasted -- head, legs, and
entrails. Let nothing of it remain until the morning; that which remains until the morning,
burn it with fire. This is how you shall you eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your
feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly -- it is a Passover offer to the
Holy One. For I will go through the land of Egypt that night, and will strike all the first-born in
the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgments: I am the Holy One. The blood shall be a sign for you upon the houses where
you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, so that no plague shall
destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Rashi on Ex. 12:13 The blood ... shall be a sign for you. For you, but not for others. Thus we learn that the blood was only to be put inside. When I see the blood. Is not all revealed before God? What the Holy One meant was: I will keep an eye out to see that you are busy with my
commandments, and I will pass over you. Questions for hevruta: 1. According to the p’shat, the plain meaning of the text, what is the purpose of the bloodon the Israelite’s doorposts on the night of the exodus from Egypt?
2. What does Rashi’s commentary add to the significance of the blood on the doorposts?
3. Can you describe an occasion in your life when you made a commitment to take action
as part of a community, and only you knew of that commitment?
EXODUS 12:1-13
The Holy One spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 'This month shall be
for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to the
congregation of Israel, saying: In the tenth day of this month they shall take, every person, a
lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. If the household is too little
for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor shall take one according to the number of the
souls; according to every man's eating you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from the sheep or from the
goats. You shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk. And they shall take the blood and
put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses in which they shall eat it.
They shall eat the flesh that night, roast with fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Do not eat it raw, nor cooked in any way with water, but roasted -- head, legs, and
entrails. Let nothing of it remain until the morning; that which remains until the morning,
burn it with fire. This is how you shall you eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your
feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly -- it is a Passover offer to the
Holy One. For I will go through the land of Egypt that night, and will strike all the first-born in
the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgments: I am the Holy One. The blood shall be a sign for you upon the houses where
you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, so that no plague shall
destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Rashi on Ex. 12:13
The blood ... shall be a sign for you. For you, but not for others. Thus we learn that the
blood was only to be put inside. When I see the blood. Is not all revealed before God?
What the Holy One meant was: I will keep an eye out to see that you are busy with my
commandments, and I will pass over you.
Questions for hevruta:
1. According to the p’shat, the plain meaning of the text, what is the purpose of the bloodon the Israelite’s doorposts on the night of the exodus from Egypt?
2. What does Rashi’s commentary add to the significance of the blood on the doorposts?
3. Can you describe an occasion in your life when you made a commitment to take action
as part of a community, and only you knew of that commitment?